The Democratic and Bureaucratic Responsibilities of Public Administration
Burke (1989) centrally focused on the dilemmas faced by public administrators as they attempt to execute bureaucratic responsibilities within a democratic system. He highlighted the tension public administrators face in reconciling democracy and bureaucracy and proposed that they execute their responsibilities from a democratic process-based approach and analyze moral dilemmas using political and institutional rather than solely moral methods of analysis (Burke, 1989).
Burke (1989) presented three essential questions that he believed one must address to ascertain proper bureaucratic responsibilities: (1) What is the connection of bureaucratic responsibility to the perspective that proper conduct primarily pertains to issues of morality and ethics; (2) If predicaments of bureaucratic conduct cannot be chiefly solved through the appeal to moral values, then upon what rules of conduct should a theory of bureaucratic responsibility reside; and (3) What dilemmas arise when executing bureaucratic responsibilities, particularly within complex organizations?
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P. (1989). Reconciling public administration and democracy: The role of the responsible administrator [Special issue]. Public Administration Review, 49(2), 180-185. Retrieved from https://regent.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/pid-7236207-dt-content-rid-19828877_2/courses/40425.GOV.670.01.201840/Burke%20%26%20Cleary%20_1989_%20Reconciling%20Public%20Administration%20and%20Democracy.pdf
Cleary, R. E. (1989). Response to John Burke [Special issue]. Public Administration Review, 49(2), 186. Retrieved from https://regent.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/pid-7236207-dt-content-rid-19828877_2/courses/40425.GOV.670.01.201840/Burke%20%26%20Cleary%20_1989_%20Reconciling%20Public%20Administration%20and%20Democracy.pdf
King, S. M., & Chilton, B. S. (2009). Administration in the public interest. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic